Vinyl Vault

Known for his booze-soaked piano odes and croaked vocals, Tom Waits built up a sizable cult following throughout the 1970’s. But in 1983, he reemerged after a three-year recording hiatus and a label switch with a sound unlike anything else in music at the time, a cacophony of squawking horns and twitchy melodies and percussion made up of everything including the kitchen sink. The resulting album, Swordfishtrombones, is certainly worthy of a song-by-song review.

Swordfishtrombones (1983, Island Records)

Side A

  A1. “Underground”
Stomping through the speakers like Godzilla, this song encapsulates the whole album. Spiky guitar and harrumphing horn accentuate the beat, as Waits declaims wildly as if trying to get someone, anyone to believe him. There’s far more to life than meets the eye, or, more succinctly, “There’s a world going on underground.”

  A2. “Shore Leave”
Waits spits out a beat-style rap over a rumbling beat while horror-movie effects attack him at every side. Playing a weary sailor, he dispassionately describes the motley crew of characters he meets in the night. The façade drops on the chorus, as a moody marimba kicks in and he sings about missing his baby. It’s sad and seductive all at once.

  A3. “Dave the Butcher”
This brief instrumental sounds like a circus from hell, all dissonant organ notes and spooky atmosphere.

  A4. “Johnsburg, Illinois”
Short and sweet, you end up craving a longer version of this story. It’s a nice change-of-pace to have Waits back at the piano in wounded-heart mode.

  A5. “16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six”
This bluesy, grimy track has drums played with thunderous force, and that plays perfectly into Waits’ insane narrative about the kindred spirits of music and violence.

  A6. “Town With No Cheer”
Waits maudlin tale of an Australian town wrecked by drought is bathed in lovely harmonium, but it drags a bit.

  A7. “In the Neighborhood”
Using the patriotic march as an ironic backdrop for the portrait of this ramshackle hamlet was a perfect touch, although you can sense that Waits has affection for these characters mixed in with his disgust.

Side B

  B1. “Just Another Sucker on the Vine”
It’s a nice mix of harmonium and trumpet, but this instrumental is just a pleasant time-filler.

  B2. “Frank’s Wild Years”
The black humor of this jazzy, spoken-word diversion is a little too obvious to register once the punch line is heard a few times.

  B3. “Swordfishtrombone”
Waits’ endlessly inventive wordplay creates a character so vivid that you can picture him in all his self-destructive grandeur. Throw in that entrancing groove and you’ve got an impeccable cut that reveals something new at every listen.

  B4. “Down, Down, Down”
After all the musical exotica we’ve been treated too, this straightforward boogie pales a bit in comparison.

  B5. “Soldier’s Things”
Waits slows things out with a mournful melody on this piano ballad. The acoustic bass is the only other witness to this sad song that reveals how a soldier fights loneliness long after his physical battles are done.

  B6. “Gin Soaked Boy”
Again, this one is a bit of a straight line after so many curve balls, but the electric guitar of Fred Tackett is pretty irresistible.

  B7. “Trouble’s Braids”
Waits crams a whole lot of lyrics into this short, percussive track, but the song never seems like more than an interstitial.

  B8. “Rainbirds”
Things end on a subdued note with this instrumental. The piano and bass interplay is excellent and a sweet counterpoint to some off the more abrasive sounds that had preceded it.

The Bottom Line

This music still sounds progressive today, more than a quarter of a century after it was released. Tom Waits was on to something, and Swordfishtrombones sent an already impressive career in a fascinating and productive new direction.

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